A Pilot Conservation Easement Program

The Center has begun a pilot archaeological conservation easement program in the Lower San Pedro River Valley. We have a verbal agreement to create an easement with one landowner in the valley who wishes to protect three important prehistoric sites on his property. Mapping of this property is currently underway, and we will soon draw up the formal easement document for these sites.

For this archaeological conservation easement program to be effective, regular site monitoring and on-going stewardship will be key. By accepting an easement, the Center accepts a perpetual responsibility for monitoring the site for any damage, keeping subsequent landowners informed of the easement's restrictions and responsibilities, and, in case of any violations, enforcing the terms of the easement in court, if necessary.

San Pedro Valley Site Steward Initiative

The Center is creating a pilot program to support the Arizona Site Steward Program's efforts in the Lower San Pedro River Valley between Benson and Winkelman, Arizona. The Site Steward program is a project of the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office/Arizona State Parks. It utilizes over 700 volunteers statewide as "extra eyes" for land managers, monitoring threatened archaeological sites and reporting vandalism to land managers and local law enforcement agencies.

Jacquie Dale, an archaeologist who lives in the Lower San Pedro area, is the Center's Preservation Archaeologist for the region. She will recruit local residents to join the Site Steward program, provide them with training and information about sites they are monitoring, and follow up with local law enforcement after vandalism is reported. She also serves as a local community resource, providing information about the archaeology of the San Pedro to the general public and working with local land owners and land managers to preserve the archaeology of the area through multiple strategies.

An important element of our Site Steward Initiative is the development of law enforcement workshops. In order to educate local police officers, sheriff's deputies, and game wardens about antiquities and human burial law, we are partnering with the Arizona Site Steward Program Coordinator, Mary Estes, to create and lead workshops on the laws and regulations governing cultural resources and human remains. A key document that will come out of these workshops will be a reference handbook for law enforcement personnel that will help them respond more effectively to reports of archaeological vandalism on state trust and private lands.